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Abstract

Background: Extreme obesity and the associated co-morbidities continue to be major health issues in the United States and disproportionally affect ethnic minority adolescents. Surgical intervention for morbidly obese adolescents is gaining support yet very little information is available on the long-term chronic disease risk and weight reduction effectiveness of bariatric surgery in this demographic.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that morbidly obese adolescents who underwent bariatric surgery would show significant improvements in weight and cardiometabolic disease risk factors one year post-surgery.

Results: Mean BMI significantly decreased from 46.52 pre-surgery to 35.74 post surgery (P<0.0001). Similarly, BMI z score for age and sex significantly decreased from pre-to post surgery (2.57 to 1.96, respectively, P<0.0001). All cardiometabolic disease risk factors significantly improved during the same time period as well; plasma glucose decreased from 86.17 to 77.99 mg/dL, HDL increased from 41.44 to 44.71 mg/dL, LDL cholesterol decreased from 96.22 to 79.76 mg/dL, total cholesterol decreased from 178.72 to 145.32 mg/dL, and triglyceride decreased from 129.80 to 95.15 mg/dL (P<0.0001 for all pre-post comparisons). Three patients developed iron deficiency anemia due to non- compliance with supplements.

Conclusions: Bariatric surgery results in significant weight loss and cardiometabolic disease risk reduction among multiethnic obese adolescents. Our results show that bariatric surgery has the potential to be a safe and effective treatment option for significant weight loss and chronic disease risk improvements in this demographic.